The Washington Capitals and Richard Zednik make their return to the Bell Center tonight. Montreal needs all the points they can get if they plan on making the playoffs this year, so this game is yet another must win for Les Habitants.
1st Period
Montreal 1-0: Christopher Higgins scores his 15th of the season on the powerplay. Mark Streit and Saku Koivu pick up the assists. Higgins was parked on the side of the net and his first shot managed to find it’s way to the back of the net.
Montreal 2-0: Michael Ryder net his 18th goal, once again with the man advantage. Ryder plays give and go with Souray, but ultimately one-times it passed Brent Johnson. Souray and Koivu pick up assists on the goal.
Montreal 3-0: Less than a minute later Higgins scores his second of the night. It is the third powerplay goal of the night for the Habs as the Caps take some undisciplined penalties. Koivu picks up his third assist of the night while Ryder gets his second point.
2nd Period
Washington 3-1: Defenseman Jamie Heward’s point shot was tipped by David Sutherby to put Washington on the board. Richard Zednik picks up the other assist on Sutherby’s 4th of the season.
Washington 3-2: Heward’s shot found it’s way through 30 seconds later for his 4th goal of the season. His shot managed to hit Maxim Lapierres stick, which put Halak out of position to make the save. Brian Sutherby gets an assist while Zednik makes his former team pay with his 2nd helper of the night.
Montreal 4-2: Ryder pots his 19th goal of the season shorthanded with Higgins in the box serving a 4-minute penalty for high-sticking and drawing blood. The goal is the 16th shorthanded goal by Montreal this season, setting a new team record with roughly 20 games still left in the season. Mike Komisarek and and Andrei Markov get the assists.
Washington 4-3: Alexander Semin breaks in from center ice after receiving a pass from his defenseman and skates his way passed Sheldon Souray to lift a sharp angle shot over Halak’s left shoulder. It was a true goal scorers goal. Heward picked up his third point of the night with the sole assist.
3rd Period
Montreal 5-3: Garth Murray ices the cake for the Canadiens with his first goal of the season scored into the empty net. Duncan Milroy picked up his first career NHL point with an assist on the goal. Tomas Plekanec also picked up his an assist on the final goal.
With the win complimented by Toronto and Carolina losses tonight, the Montreal Canadiens find themselves at 7th place in the Eastern Conference. The Habs will see action next on Thursday in Nashville to face the Predators.
3-Stars
1. Michael Ryder
2. Saku Koivu
3. Jamie Heward